Vengeance
by Viteros
Summary: A pretty old story, about Sephiroth coming back to kill Cloud. I know it's been done, but it's an OK story.


I Am God  
  
Viteros  
  
viteros@hotmail.com  
  
Marlene looked out the window. The same, the exact same window she had looked out of as a little girl when Meteor struck Midgar, called by Sephiroth. She remembered....  
  
There was a disturbance out there. A huge noise, and a feeling.... a feeling of pure evil coming closer... closer... coming to destroy the Planet, all that anyone held dear, and Sephiroth's mad plan to destroy half the world, just to give himself more power.... I remember.... I was so scared....  
  
From what she heard later, Sephiroth was killed before Meteor even hit, and so his entire work was ruined in an instant. Cloud Strife killed him with the Ultima Weapon, the exact opposite sword of Masamune, Sephiroth's demon sword. But that was years ago.... she was eight then...  
  
That was thirty-four years ago. Thirty-four long years. She was forty-two now, a middle-aged woman in a world that now knew true peace for the first time in years. All was perfect, Midgar was in ruin. Everyone, especially her father, were getting old now. Cloud Strife, the hero, was fifty-five. Barret, her father, was sixty-nine. And Aeris, the flower girl, was dead...  
  
That was the only shadow over her perfect life. It hung over her head like a malevolent bat, shading her with its leathery wings. But life had to go on, after all.  
  
Cloud Strife sat alone, as usual, inside of his house. After the Sephiroth and Meteor incident he had built a house on the outskirts of the Nibel Mountains, and he had lived there by himself for years now.  
  
He was getting old that was obvious. No denying it. He, and everyone else, was getting old. They had all gone their separate ways.... most annoying person missing was that Tifa had gone to help with the building of Terra, a city built over the ruins of Midgar, where no one would forget the horrors that had come but they would go on and know the wonderful future.  
  
I'm all alone now... just like before. All alone... no one near.... just myself.... and nothing to do.  
  
Deep inside the North Crater, a place that lived in infamy, a soul, a life stirred.  
  
... I am Sephiroth.... I will not be denied my eternal destiny... I am god.... I... am... GOD!  
  
Inside the City of the Ancients, a place that was always avoided in deference for its sacred history, a body moved. It slowly looked around itself, and then climbed out of the water where it had laid for so many years. Perfectly preserved, as a Cetra should be. A flawless body moved out of the city and slowly began the trek... to Nibelheim...  
  
"There is no death for a dead man..."  
  
Vincent Valentine sat alone in Lucecria's Cavern. He and Cloud had found it by accident inside the Submarine when they searched for the Key of the Ancients. Here he could be alone with his pain. Where he could remember...  
  
Even among the Turks, Vincent had been special. This was the reason he was chosen for that hideous experiment in the Shinra mansion. The blood of the Ancients...  
  
In a precious few of the people on the Planet, they possessed some blood of the Cetra. No one was a pure Cetra, of course, Sephiroth had killed the last one, but a few had some. The list was short...Marlene... Vincent.... strangely enough, so had Hojo. But that was all that Vincent knew of. Then he slept... and once more delved into his nightmare....  
  
The dream... the dream is the same...  
  
The world... perfect.... peaceful... sublime.... but there is that thing...  
  
There is a dark spot in the light of the world. A black light, a piercing spot of blood on a perfect white cloth. A monster.... that will rise again....  
  
Sephiroth....  
  
Vincent awoke, and laughed at himself. Sephiroth. What a joke. That man was dead. Nothing to worry about anymore.  
  
... Then why was he so terrified?  
  
Marlene shivered. And it wasn't from the cold breeze. It was from a cold that came from the Planet itself.... something was rising...  
  
I.... am.... Sephiroth...  
  
Marlene stepped back as if struck. She was sweating and her face was pale in horror. Where had that thought come from? As if someone was inside of her head....  
  
The corpse of Sephiroth smiled, as the soul of the demon smiled in tandem. Soon.... so soon... the nightmare would begin again... he would begin with the Cetra...  
  
The body lifted as if on marionette strings. Standing, its head lolling to the side, it glided to a massive Mako fountain in the Crater and stepped into its pool. And the eyes opened....  
  
Aeris slowly walked through the forest near Cosmo Canyon, going to Nibelheim, an ethereal light around her. He was calling... Sephiroth... was calling.... telling her go.... go to Cloud...  
  
Cloud looked out the window carelessly and then stared. "What...."  
  
There walked Aeris Gainsburough, looking as perfect as before. Her hair hung unbound, all around her, floating as if blown by some wind only she knew of, and then...  
  
Cloud gasped. There, in her stomach, was the cut Sephiroth had given her. The stab through which Masamune, the cursed blade, had traveled...  
  
Aeris came to the door. She opened it quickly, and Cloud stood there, Ultima Weapon in hand, in combat stance. "Aeris! What... what is happening?"  
  
Aeris strode forward wordlessly, and then stopped, and looked around as if waking up. "Cloud... Cloud? How am I here? Wh-what has happened?" Then horror lit her features, and she nearly shouted, "Cloud, it's not safe. Nowhere. It's never safe anymore. There is one more fight left...."  
  
"Aeris, what are you talking about? I'm too old now. I can't fight anyone. Nowhere to go, nothing to do anymore...."  
  
"Go.... to the Crater..."  
  
"What?"  
  
But by the time Cloud had asked, Aeris was gone. Go to the Crater....  
  
Vincent looked at the opening to the Cave and saw....  
  
"Aeris... no.... you're dead..."  
  
"Go to the Crater. That is where your destiny lies. Not here in a moldy cave. Go to North Crater."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Go to North Crater...." Aeris disappeared.  
  
"Then I'll finish this," said Vincent. "I'm going to the Crater."  
  
Nothing can stop me now...  
  
My body.... so cold... for so long... bloodless... lifeless.... clutching Masamune blade...  
  
But I need everything in place. And after the pieces arrive, the puzzle can be finished. And the nightmare can begin again.  
  
No one can kill a god...  
  
Cloud went to the Chocobo Farm. There she was.... as golden as the day he had left. His Chocobo, his Golden Chocobo, Fortune.  
  
He jumped on and said, "Let's go, girl. One more journey left."  
  
Vincent slowly strode up to the Crater. What does Aeris mean...?  
  
At the top of the Crater, the two old heroes met. After speaking for a while, they both descended.  
  
They went down, lower and lower. And then they came to a room, a cavern they hadn't noticed before on their first trip here, their quest to kill Sephiroth. It was dimly lit from a phosphorous on the stalactites and stalagmites. And then they saw her...  
  
"... Aeris?"  
  
There she stood, a phantom, hair and dress billowing in a wind they could not feel, her eyes staring, and the hole, that terrible hole through her stomach...  
  
"So.... you've come..."  
  
Two voices spoke. They looked around. Then they looked behind Aeris and saw-  
  
The corpse. That terrible corpse, Sephiroth's body, hanging, suspended by icy chains of stone, his face still dripping blood. He did not move except for his mouth, and he and Aeris spoke in tandem, "You've come..."  
  
The corpse of Sephiroth stretched forth its hand, and so did Aeris, and they both crumpled in pain. "What... what are you doing!?"  
  
And again, the two spoke, the dead Sephiroth and the ghost of Aeris, "... you two have something I need. You, the dead man, possess the Jenova inside of your blood. And you... Cloud Strife... have me."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Ever wonder why you turned out to be such a powerful warrior? It was I, Strife. Inside of the Mako... Lifestream... you bond with one other soul. I was dead... so you bonded with me. From then on my soul looked through your eyes, moved through your hands, felt your pain, felt your pleasure...  
  
"And that was how I controlled you.... and now, I need myself back. To animate this hideous corpse, and then go fetch my God-self from Lifestream, and finish what I left undone! I don't need Meteor anymore. I have.... this."  
  
Aeris lifted her hand, and there was the White Materia.  
  
"With this, I can manipulate the very souls of human beings. Once I take it and descend into Lifestream, I will be eternally powerful...."  
  
While they were talking a pillar of light, a beam, had emanated from each of their chests, a green from Vincent and a red from Cloud. The Mako glow faded from Cloud's eyes... he suddenly felt weaker...  
  
"Now you are the fifty-five year old man you should be, Cloud Strife. And now... I will kill you."  
  
The pillars of light entered Sephirothís chest, and the body shuddered. Then the chains melted away and Sephiroth dropped to the ground. His demonic green eyes flickered toward Aeris.  
  
"Begone. Return to Lifestream; I have no need for you anymore. Get away from me."  
  
Aeris disappeared, and her eyes pleaded with Cloud.... end the nightmare....  
  
Masamune appeared in Sephiroth's hand, and he laughed. "Face me, Cloud Strife. The real Strife, no longer a copy of Sephiroth's soul. Face me, and die!"  
  
A massive hole appeared beneath them, and they started falling, and all around them swirled Lifestream, the souls recoiling at the sight of the man who would control them and bend the Planet to his will.  
  
Cloud felt a new energy surge through him, and saw that his hands were not wrinkled, his hair was once again blonde and long, and his strength returned. He looked at Sephiroth and saw that the eternally youthful face no longer bore any mark of their duel, except for a long, red scar that ran from his hairline to his chin. Sephiroth wore a mad grin, and he shouted, "Now, Strife! Face me here, in Lifestream! Embrace your fate!"  
  
Cloud put the Ultima Weapon into his hand, and gripped the handle tightly. "I'm ready, Sephiroth. Demon. I'll kill you now, and avenge the souls of Nibelheim... Zack... Aeris! And..... myself! Die!"  
  
Vincent, still in the throne room, stared down into the brilliantly lit green hole into which the two enemies had descended. What could he do? Jump into the pit...?  
  
Then...the sight that he had seen so many times before...  
  
Aeris stood near a stairway that led deeper down into the Planet. Her ghostly face wore a passing shadow of the smile they had all come to know well and she gestured down, and mouthed silently, "Hope."  
  
Pulling his rifle from his cloak, the dead man ran down into the cavern wall.  
  
Marlene groaned as she slumped against the windowsill. She lifted a trembling arm and saw that she had Dyne's pendant in her hand. Her father.  
  
She saw her reflection in it, and then she saw Dyne, standing there, looking at her in supreme fear, warning in his eyes as if telling her to run, escape somewhere. But go where? Escape from... what?  
  
More pain shook Marlene, through her very soul, and she cried out. The Planet screamed through her lips.  
  
Cloud charged, Sephiroth blocked, and then whirled and fireballs flared from the black glove. Cloud dodged and responded with a massive bolt of thunder from his sword, making Sephiroth lift his sword and, gathering the energy inside the metal blade, he hurled the lighting back at its maker, and Cloud tumbled, groaning in pain.  
  
"You can't beat me, clone! You worthless failure! Burn!"  
  
Flames erupted underneath Cloud, the heat so powerful that he was thrown into the air, and fell, onto Sephiroth, who lifted his sword high and impaled him.  
  
"How does it feel now, Strife? Without my soul on your side? Soon you will die, and my soul will be free, and it will be mine again! Welcome back to Hell, Strife! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Die! Ha, ha, ha, HA, HA, HA, HA!"  
  
Sephiroth threw Cloud to the ground, and licked his sword, tasting the blood of his enemy. "You will soon be dead, worthless copy!"  
  
"Not... so easily... beaten..."  
  
Cloud jumped up and focused Materia energy into him, sealing his wound. "You'll find me harder to defeat, Sephiroth! I'll rid this Planet of your curse..."  
  
Sephiroth's grin grew wider, and the fire of insanity danced in his emerald eyes. "Then come, Strife! End my life! I swear I'll drink the rest of your blood!"  
  
Vincent charged down the halls, shooting the beasts that came in his way, dodging those he could not kill quickly. He must get down to defeat Sephiroth.... and help Cloud!  
  
Aeris spoke in his mind- Vincent.... if Cloud is killed, Sephiroth can regain his spirit. And from there, he can be a god again.... and that means the end for us all, because he will be at the Planet Core with the White Materia...  
  
"How did he control you?" asked Vincent, tireless, as a dead man is. "What happened?"  
  
Sephiroth is no real Cetra, said Aeris, but he has very close ties. He belongs to Jenova's people, the anti-Cetra, and he has strong links to all of us. In his dead form, he can access all of the Cetra.... all can feel him...  
  
"So... that was the meaning of my nightmares...."  
  
Yes, your link to Sephiroth.... since I am full Cetra he could control my mind. But now all of his attention is focused on Cloud! You must hurry while there is still time!  
  
"What must I do?"  
  
At the bottom, where Sephiroth and Cloud are falling toward now, there waits a massive Mako fountain, the most massive in the world. Once there, with the White Materia, Sephiroth can channel the souls in Lifestream into himself, giving himself eternal power and damning the world to eternal servitude inside of his accursed soul...  
  
"Then I must hurry! What shall I do with the Materia once I have it?"  
  
Give it... to me...  
  
Marlene felt a great dread, as if something horrible were coming closer.... closer. But what? What could possibly be happening? She looked into the medallion and once more saw Dyne, standing there, looking at her.  
  
Then he spoke.  
  
"Marlene... Cloud is in the Crater.... he needs help.... send him your soul...."  
  
Cloud groaned in pain as he crumpled to the unseeable floor they stood on, bleeding from dozens of wounds up and down his arms, and across his face.  
  
"You are nothing without me, Strife! Nothing, you worthless unnamed clone. Pathetic. Trash. Dirt."  
  
Sephiroth walked over and kicked him with the heel of his foot. Cloud rolled over, holding his sword under him.  
  
"Such a small challenge, Strife? Ready to die already?" Sephiroth's tone was mocking as he strode over.  
  
As Sephiroth got closer, Cloud waited, thinking Yes... just come a bit closer...  
  
Suddenly, Cloud rolled over, and thrust out his sword, and impaled Sephiroth through the stomach. "Die!!"  
  
For a moment, Sephiroth just stood there, eyes staring blankly. Then he slumped slowly to the ground, sliding off Cloud's massive blade. He lay there, face up, staring up, and yet not seeing at all. His hand let go of Masamune, and it clattered to the ground while Sephiroth simply lay, staring... he twitched in the final movements of death, coughed up blood, and lay there, still, blankly staring up, blood streaming down the side of his face.  
  
Cloud stood up, panting, and looked down at the corpse. He was so tired.... he leaned on his sword for support. And he looked down at the corpse. This made, he thought with a grim smile, the third time this man had been killed....  
  
Vincent stopped abruptly. Sephiroth's sense had nearly died. "What.... is he... dead?"  
  
Vincent slowed down. What had happened? Sephiroth was dead? Excellent.... but he couldn't believe it. The demon man wasn't that easy to kill, was he? This didn't seem right. So sudden....  
  
Vincent didn't stop walking.  
  
Cloud stared down at Sephiroth's corpse, and it never moved, just laid, staring, at the endless abyss above them with its dead eyes. The blood still wasn't dry; some more was still coming out....  
  
Marlene suddenly felt better, and got up, and went and sat on her bed, looking at Dyne's pendant. Suddenly, the face wasn't hers anymore. It was Sephiroth.  
  
What was that noise... laughter? From where...?  
  
Cloud looked around, and then looked down at the corpse of Sephiroth and saw that it shook slightly with laughing. He came closer. To inspect it. What was.... what was happening...?  
  
Suddenly, the corpse picked up Masamune, twisted, flung itself up and slashed Cloud across the face. Cloud reeled back, his hand on a fresh cut on his cheek. He stared in horror at the demonic apparition before him.  
  
Sephiroth stood, laughing, his cloak and clothes ripped and tattered, blood still streaming down his face, and his green eyes tinged with crimson... and.... the massive hole through his torso, from where Cloud could see the man's insides...  
  
"Ha, ha, ha, ha.... HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HAAA!"  
  
Sephiroth put his blade before him, and it was covered in Cloud's blood. The monster kept laughing, the eyes dancing with insane light.  
  
Cloud rushed to attack him, and hacked again and again. Cuts appeared all over Sephiroth, but he stood there, laughing, the red blood intermingling with the black leather he wore. Suddenly, a black-gloved fist swung out, throwing Cloud to the far edge of their arena, knocking his head and making him see stars. He slowly got to his feet, and charged, but suddenly Sephiroth put his hand up and Cloud's head slammed into what seemed to be a bar of steel, and he was dazed, standing there, until Sephiroth backhanded him, throwing him to the ground.  
  
Vincent hurried, the sense of Sephiroth back and strong, nonexistent but yet somehow powerful. What was happening?  
  
Marlene screamed as the eyes of Sephiroth flashed at her from her pendant. And words came to her mind in a cold, unreal voice-  
  
Run away. Bow to me. Come to the Crater, and serve me, as the all the world shall....  
  
Sephiroth stood there, laughter still shaking him. His eyes.... growing redder... darker....  
  
"The new nightmare is about to begin, Strife! We will soon reach the bottom. There, I will show you my new destiny. There, you will die in the Mako pool, where I will extract your soul and mine, and join. Then I will command all of Lifestream! And nothing can stop me! Jenova will infuse with the Mako there! I will control.... everything!"  
  
Cloud clutched the side of his face. It felt like half of his skull had been smashed.... such agony.... his face hurt even to breathe, but he gasped out, ".............. Cure.... holy Materia.... heal me!!"  
  
Light cloaked him and when he emerged he was pure, unscratched, with no pain. But he had only so many supplies, and as for Sephiroth....  
  
"You can't kill a dead man," said Sephiroth. "Just give up and I'll make your death quick."  
  
Cloud despaired and looked past Sephiroth into the swirling Lifestream beyond. And there he saw-  
  
"... Zack?"  
  
Zack was there, floating in the Lifestream, staring into the arena, glaring at Sephiroth. And then Cloud remembered....  
  
Back at the Nibelheim Mako Reactor. I was outside with Tifa, making sure she wouldn't come inside. Then I ran in, because I heard a disturbance. And there he was.... Zack... laying on a Mako pod, hacked through the torso... it was so terrible.... and then... his last words...  
  
"Cloud.... kill Sephiroth..."  
  
"Zack.... I can't let you down... but.... I can't win!"  
  
Vincent reached the bottom, and looked around. There lay before him a massive Mako pool, with a stalagmite growing out of it, a glowing rock that was shaped like a tree, with Materia crystals hanging off. "Beautiful...."  
  
"Yes.... isn't it?"  
  
Vincent jumped and turned, automatically aiming his gun. Then he saw that it was Aeris, still with the hole through her stomach.  
  
"Aeris.... how?"  
  
"We're so close to the Lifestream flow, where it comes out of the Planet. I can make myself corporeal here. And so can Zack."  
  
"Zack?"  
  
Then Vincent remembered. Cloud had told him-Cloud's clone brother and Aeris' first love.  
  
"Oh.... Zack. I expect that's him?"  
  
A youth stood alone, a young man with spiky black hair, holding a buster sword. He looked at the Mako pool and then at a large clearing.  
  
Suddenly, a massive beam of light struck down, and Sephiroth descended, bleeding and ripped and laughing with crimson eyes, and Cloud moaning in pain, trying to stay upright but failing....  
  
"Cloud!" shouted Vincent. "Sephiroth!"  
  
He pulled his gun and started firing, but Sephiroth took the blows unflinchingly as bloody holes were blown into him. Grinning maniacally, he turned to face Vincent, and stretched forth a hand-  
  
Vincent was thrown and slammed against a stone wall so hard he left an imprint. He collapsed to the ground. Zack watched impassively.  
  
Sephiroth picked up Cloud by the neck and slowly strode to the Mako fountain, where, in the center, the White Materia rested on a stone platform. He picked it up and threw Cloud into the Mako water. He lifted the bloody Masamune high, and looked down at Cloud.  
  
"Die, my clone. Free yourself and me."  
  
The Masamune flew down, and impaled Cloud through the chest. He gasped in agony.... and died.  
  
His spirit floated into the Lifestream, and drew itself up to look at Sephiroth. "... How...."  
  
"And now," said Sephiroth, smiling as he lifted the White Materia high, staining it with his bloody hands. "I will command all of Lifestream! Behold.... my soul flees from the Lifestream! Its final chains of bondage to you are broken, Cloud Strife. Behold me!"  
  
The demonic, red-eyed, bloody Sephiroth wearing ripped and tattered clothing smiled triumphantly at the apparition before him, another Sephiroth, except....  
  
"This... is the Sephiroth I remember...." said Cloud....  
  
The man who looked like Sephiroth held himself high with proud bearing, his eyes were green like polished, pure emerald, his long white, clean hair billowed in the wind no one could feel. His black leather clothing reflected the glow of the Mako water, and the Masamune he clutched in his black-gloved hand was not clutching a demon blade that glowed a dull black but a shining, bright katana sword, and his cloak moved slightly in the winds caused by life itself.  
  
"This is.... the real Sephiroth," Cloud realized, as he looked at the man and saw that the tattoo, the '1', was not there. The clone Sephiroth's body stood before him, the true Sephiroth soul faced the monster.  
  
Vincent had finally gotten to his feet, and he stared. "How can this be..."  
  
"I understand now..." said Aeris slowly "No soul can exist simultaneously. However, Sephiroth did that, and so there was a terrible psychosis inflicted on the physical one and the spiritual one was lost. The clone Sephiroth, the one we know, is not really he. This is the true Sephiroth we see. Not Sephiroth the demon, the monster summoner. But Sephiroth the war- hero, the demon slayer."  
  
Vincent felt strange new power. The pain inflicted on him had been so great. Great enough.... to trigger rage....  
  
He jumped to his feet and roared, and he felt his body transform, consumed and twisted by a force that was not him.... a demon from the past... the very first evil, the first demon to inflict its pain upon the world....  
  
Chaos!  
  
The demon Chaos stood and stretched out its wings, and roared again. It glared at Sephiroth. "You disturb the eternal sleep of the dead," it said, "and you must be killed. I will destroy you!"  
  
The demon charged, but the man lifted his bloodstained Masamune and stabbed Chaos through the chest. The demon recoiled, clutched its chest, and groaned.  
  
"I will not let you live, Sephiroth!" that voice was new. But not to Cloud, to him that voice was so familiar... ".... Zack?"  
  
Zack charged, sword held high, and struck a hard blow. But Sephiroth simply grinned as a new slice appeared in him, and then he threw Zack to the far side of the cave.  
  
"Such one-sided resistance," he mocked, "When no one can defeat me! I am invincible, you hear me? I call... from the depths of Lifestream... Sephiroth! Serve me!"  
  
But Sephiroth, the real Sephiroth, regarded his clone coldly. Then he said, "Who are you? You look like me.... but you seem.... different."  
  
And the red-eyed devil shouted, "I am Sephiroth! You are my Mako self! Join with me now and we... I.... shall wield ultimate power!"  
  
The other lifted his sword high and shouted back, "You are not Sephiroth! You are a twisted version, a monster built from my nightmares while I lay dead in Mako! I'll kill you now!"  
  
They rushed at each other, one Sephiroth flashing green eyes shouting defiance, the crimson-eyed, bloody Sephiroth laughing in his moment of triumph.  
  
"You can't beat me! You cannot kill a dead man! And you.... you have no real form, because I am your real form! Nothing can stop me now!"  
  
True Sephiroth growled and then spied Cloud's corpse. He slid inside....  
  
"What? Impossible!"  
  
"Very possible," came True Sephiroth's words from Cloud's mouth, "I once more inhabit the body I've been in so long. And from here it is where I will destroy you."  
  
Suddenly, Cloud had a thought. If Aeris could assume corporeal form here, so could he...and Zack could as well...  
  
The same thought seemed to have struck his clone. They shimmered and turned solid.  
  
But he could not. He turned back. Of course! His corpse was right there, it had not yet returned to the Planet, how could he resume himself? Even here, near all of this Lifestream, he could only watch. And then he saw....  
  
Cloud's body, wielding the sword of Sephiroth, was fighting hard against Dark Sephiroth, but was still losing.  
  
The dark Masamune whistled through the air to clang against light Masamune and stayed there, grinding, sending sparks, and the two's faces were close together.  
  
"You.... no matter what... I will kill you!"  
  
"... Heh, heh... there is no way to kill me. Only I can destroy you!"  
  
And Dark Sephiroth spit into True Sephiroth's face, and he staggered back, blinded.  
  
"And now.... leave that body!" Dark Sephiroth charged, and stabbed Cloud, again, through the chest, and then swung back and slit through the neck.  
  
The body dropped to the ground to die a second time. The clothing and armor was cut and ripped, as well as the flesh, with blood dripping out and darkening the fabrics. The Ultima Weapon, the supposed Invincible Sword, was nocked and battered, and lay still next to the still body of Cloud Strife.  
  
Sephiroth laughed, and grinned widely. "I win. After all, Cloud Strife, the better man must come out on top."  
  
Cloud's anger flashed in him, and the rage was equaled by Zack. The two clones glared at Sephiroth with hatred, and flashes of memories, memories of pain, terror, and rage whirl winded around them, and they were thrown into a whirling tunnel of memories and pain, but around every corner waited Sephiroth's triumphant face, his laughter, and Masamune flashed as they watched as their common soul was killed again and again.  
  
Then, outside of the noise, the screaming and slashing, he heard another noise... chanting....  
  
And through the haze of agony and rage he saw Aeris... when she was alive...  
  
In the beautiful crystalline City of the Ancients, there she was, on a pedestal, the only place with sunlight in the whole dead place, and there she was, kneeling... praying... praying.... for her wounds, for the torment of all others to end, to defend the Planet against the demon god, Sephiroth.  
  
And then... the nightmare began again....  
  
A massive black shape, blotting out the sunlight, dropped from the sky, a whirling black cape, a demon's eyes, and the hideous, monstrous sword, the Masamune, flashing, glinting in the light as it came down to destroy the one who could defeat him...  
  
"No. Not this time!"  
  
Cloud jumped to defend Aeris against her attacker, sword rising, and he struck Masamune and made Sephiroth tumble....  
  
And he was out of the swirling madness, again in the White Materia Room, and there was Sephiroth, angry, half-laying half-sitting in the deep Mako Water, glaring at Cloud in pure hatred.  
  
Cloud looked and saw that he was back in his own body, healed, and the Ultima Weapon was in his hands. He was unweary, and he glared at Sephiroth with new hate, and new determination.  
  
"Sephiroth!" he shouted defiantly. "Your crimes have gone unpunished too long! And this.... this is for..."  
  
Cloud jumped forward and started slashing.  
  
Slash! "Nibelheim!"  
  
Slash! "Mom!"  
  
Slash! "Tifa!"  
  
Slash! "Aeris!!"  
  
Cut after flying cut after cut he attacked Sephiroth with all of his rage and felt that he was not alone. Not alone inside of his own body. He saw that, behind his movements also lagged another, ghostly arm, no, two...  
  
"Zack... Sephiroth...."  
  
Suddenly, the all-too familiar feel of a cold blade going through his chest....  
  
"Never drop your guard, fool."  
  
Cloud was brought back to reality, and saw Sephirothís demonic, mocking face, the blood still streaming down.  
  
"Nothing can beat me, Strife! I am Sephiroth, God of the Planet. You can never defeat me."  
  
Sephiroth picked Cloud up and started strangling him. "Die...."  
  
Cloud clutched in vain at the powerful arms of iron that held his throat, and the edges of his vision became blurry.... he coughed up blood...  
  
Suddenly, a defiant roar screamed from nowhere and Chaos the 1st Demon charged Sephiroth, making him drop his victim.  
  
Cloud hit the stone floor hard and groaned in pain as more bruises appeared on him. But then he got up and he saw....  
  
"Yes.... of course...."  
  
Light must triumph over darkness. Evil cannot control, but it still has a place, to maintain balance. Ultimate power is achieved when darkness and light unite into one being.  
  
But Life must be the driving force, not death…unite light, darkness, and life, and the ultimate power is then achieved....  
  
In answer, Chaos arose and hovered near the united Cloud, Zack, and True Sephiroth. Then, Lifestream stirred...  
  
Hundreds of souls, thousands, millions arose from Lifestream's depths, and combined into Cloud. Heroes, martyrs, criminals, murderers, travelers, all merged into one being....  
  
A huge warrior in glistening armor appeared; white mixing with black in swirls and patterns unseen before, and a yin-yang adorned its helmet. It also carried the Demon Wings, the wings of Chaos the first destroyer.  
  
And, for the first time, Sephiroth had fear in his red eyes....  
  
And these words escaped his dead blue lips- ".... No.... not that damnation again.... no.... no!"  
  
Sephiroth leapt, Masamune of darkness in his hand, and slashed at the powerful figure before him, but the massive warrior merely knocked aside the Masamune with Ultima Weapon and then closed in on Sephiroth....  
  
"Ancient Apocalypse...Ultimate End!"  
  
The massive sword lifted, glowed green then white with all of the souls that powered it, and then came down on Sephiroth with all of its sacred and dark power.  
  
Sephiroth's scream of agony pierced the air.  
  
Marlene groaned and dropped to the ground in pain. The shout.... the pure, unbridled evil and rage contained in it.... she looked at her pendant and say Dyne again, saying slowly "Be strong... never falter... you cannot fail..."  
  
Sephiroth dropped to his knees. His clothes were more ripped, torn, and ragged than ever. The bleeding had stopped, but the wounds were still wide open. His eyes, wide open, stared at the ceiling. He kneeled there, staring into space, his breathing coming in ragged gasps. And he spoke slowly....  
  
"I had.... always thought the better man would win.... I was wrong.... or was I right? Was I truly wrong in my quest to achieve the ultimate power? Was I truly a curse on the world... a bloodstain on a white sheet...? "-He breathed deeply, his breath rough and painful- "darkness... am I your master... fate…are you my servant? Or.... have I always been manipulated.... was I always the puppet? A puppet can be manipulated... when it believes that it is in control, one can command its strings with such ease...."  
  
And Sephiroth repeated the words that he had shouted when he was killed by Cloud Strife so long ago, in the Crater, and was sent to Lifestream...  
  
"No..... I am God.... I cannot be beaten now!"  
  
And he fell. 


End file.
